Michelin is a tyre technology leader for over 125 years and committed to bring the best products and experiences to our customers in India. Mr. Mohan Kumar, Commercial Director, Michelin India, expresses his viewpoints.
Can you please brief the tyres supply program for the tipper & tip trailer segment – both for on & off-road in construction, General goods, waste management, Port and infrastructure?
Safety, longevity, fuel saving, comfort, driving pleasure – the Michelin Group’s promise, with its Michelin Total Performance strategy, is committed to ensure that our customers gets the best out of all of these performance parameters.
Michelin tyres are designed, produced and marketed to meet challenges of different applications. In the case of Tippers & Tip trailer application, a vehicle travels in both on and off-road conditions. To cater to this demanding usage condition, Michelin has designed Michelin X-Works family of tyres (XZY3HD, XDY3HD and X Works Z and X Works D). These next generation tyres are optimized for exceptional traction and wear in mixed and severe service conditions for on/off road applications
What are the salient technical features of your tyres for the heavy duty applications? Highlight the USPs and other attributes for the customers to choose your tyres over other makes.
Every Michelin tyre range is specially designed, keeping in mind various parameters of a particular application and its prevailing usage conditions. In heavy duty applications, transport activities are carried out on roads and on dirt tracks making it essential for trucks to be fitted with tyres that are both robust on harsh terrain and durable on asphalt. Michelin X Works range of tyres addresses these heavy duty applications. This range comes with an additional crown ply with a strong cable that protects the tyre from external damages including nail penetration on the crown and its shoulder areas. The Michelin X Works series of tyres come with 60% additional bead wires that enable it to carry optimum load as well as provide for longer life with multiple retreads.
These technologies help reduce the downtime for the customer, which is extremely critical in this sector, since a lot of capital intensive machines are used and breakdown in any one could lead to huge financial losses for the whole line.
Tyres play a crucial link in the total cost of ownership (TCO) – comment on the same and the collaborative approach with OEMs and end users in launching new tyres for the applications.
Tyres play a critical role in the total operating cost of a fleet. The general perception that a tyre is good if it only lasts longer is a partial truth. The contribution of tyres in total cost of ownership of a fleet can be gauged by the fact that a good tyre provides the best in class mileage, saving fuel consumption, offers longer life with multiple retread thus, decreasing the total cost of operation for a fleet owner.
Michelin tyres are designed with the philosophy of “Michelin Total Performance” that helps fleet owners minimise operating expenses. Our tires also provide realized savings by standing up to difficult applications maximizing a fleet’s uptime.
The operating conditions in the tipper segment are severe – can you throw some light on the demands, factors influencing the choice of tyres, life (km), retreading, etc.?
The duty cycle or life of the tyre depends on usage conditions such as load, pressure, speed, road conditions, driving habits and the health of the vehicle. We believe that the best measure of lower operating cost for the fleet owners is best reflected when we talk about the total cost per kilo metre over the entire life of the tire. This encompasses the cost per km in the first life, the cost of retreading over the second and third life of the tire.
Tell us about the sales & service network and technical support in addressing customer needs, application engineering, aftermarket requirements, etc.
Since the last decade India is witnessing an exceptional rise in customer demand for quality services. In order to ensure that Michelin quality tyres are supported with the highest levels of service, Michelin has innovated in the distribution space, providing consumers with an engaging tyre buying and after sales experience.
We introduced the concept of ‘one point service’ for fleet operators through our Michelin Truck Service Centre (MTSC) and Michelin Truck Service Network (MTSN) programmes. While these two networks cater to both stationed and mobile services, our RECAMIC retread centers provide opportunities for all truck and bus customers to extract maximum value from Michelin radial tyres by improving the second and third lives of Michelin casings.